Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane (2019)

Really fun but substantial chick lit about a woman who is a bit lost who gets a job as a barmaid for her high school boyfriend. 

Strong, vivid characters abound and the romance itself is a lovely slow burn. 

Really quite good.

Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Ben-Waksberg (2019)

LOVED. 

"Here is my impression of a play: Okay, so first you gotta imagine it's a hotel room, right? Just a normal, boring-looking hotel room, on the nice end of things, as far as hotel rooms go. And the audience is coming in, and they're taking their seats in this dinky little theater in lower Manhattan, barely bigger than a Winnebago, this theater, with seats that feel like someone just glued down some thin fabric over a block of hard metal. The main thing of a theater--like the whole point of it--is that there's going to be a lot of sitting in it, so you'd think they would at least consider investing in some comfortable chairs. Word to the wise: if they can't even get that part right, which absolutely most of the time they cannot, then buckle the fuck up, because I can tell you right now you are in for an ordeal of an evening."

I would like to recommend this book to you, friends. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

This collection of stories about relationships is absurd and hilarious and live up to their titles. Some of the short stories in this collection include: Missed Connection-M4W, The Serial Monogamist's Guide to Important New York City Landmarks, Lunch with the Person Who Dumped You, and Rufus, which is about a relationship from the point of the dog. And of course, You Want to Know What Plays Are Like. DON'T MISS.

One in a Million by Lindsey Kelk (2018)

Really liked this adorable Brit Chick Lit about Annie, who owns a social media start up with her best friends. She makes a bet with her landlords that she can make someone Instagram famous in 30 days and the random stranger selected is hapless historian Dr. Samuel Page, whose girlfriend has just dumped him. 

In addition to the social media bet, Annie goes about putting Sam through Boyfriend Bootcamp, which includes a makeover, social skills, conversation and getting him into the outside world. The delight of this book is in the charming characters and their very realistic relationships, especially between Annie and her friends and family. And the relationship between Annie and Sam is a lovely slow burn. 

Am definitely checking out more Lindsey Kelk books! And she has a bunch, yay!

Read Bottom Up by Neel Shah and Skye Chatham (2015)

Lovely, unique novel written in email and text from the perspective of two characters meeting and falling in love. And then struggling in the relationship.

Shah wrote Elliot's perspective and Chatham wrote Madeleine's as well as their conversations with their best friends. This lends the novel a unique authenticity and reality.

Charming and very relatable. Unfortunately, the only book written by these two together. :( 

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (2018)

Every time Liane Moriarty comes up, I feel a little glow of having 'discovered' her with her first novel Three Wishes (2004!) Every single novel since then has been a treat.

Rich characterizations and complex relationships in unique situations are Moriarty's stock in trade. This novel is no different and has a particularly unique setting. Nine strangers meet at a health resort. Secrets unfold. Unexpected things happen. AND there's a kickass, menopausal, romance writer heroine called Frances. 

Endearing, absorbing, and so readable.

Going Into Town by Roz Chast (2017)

Subtitled: A Love Letter to New York and it couldn't be more so.

I adore Roz Chast and I love her New York. She created this guide for her daughter and expanded it into a quirky, funny, affectionate graphic memoir. I absolutely agree with her and her statement of how she "really likes density of visual information" and it's one of the reasons I love NYC.

Also, this:

“I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it, too. I'm not worried about it being 'ruined' by too many people 'discovering' it. Manhattan's been ruined since 1626 , when Peter Minuit bought it from Native Americans for $24.00.”

See also Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? 

For more NYC love, see Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff and Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart. 

Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz (2018)

Hilariously and descriptively subtitled: A. A Memoir, B. A Personality Quiz, C. A Mostly True and Completely Honest Look at One Young Woman's Attempt to Find Herself, D. All of the Above.

This millennial memoir is written in a cute Choose Your Own Adventure style and the writing transcends the gimmick. Quirky look at being in one's twenties and modern feminism.

Schwartz gained fame as the creator of @GuyInYourMFA on Twitter and I'm adding her book The White Man's Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon to my read-now list. 

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018)

“Ayoola summons me with these words—Korede, I killed him. I'd hoped I would never hear those words again."

Fantastic short novel about Korede and her sister Ayoola, the serial killer of the title, who keeps murdering her boyfriends. Korede is left to clean up the messes. When Ayoola starts to date Korede's longtime crush, things get especially complicated and messy. SO readable, engaging, and gripping, and the setting of Lagos is vivid and fascinating. 

Looking forward to Treasure and The Baby Is Mine, out in 2020.

Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco (1973)

Although this haunted (hungry) house story is from 1973, it's not remotely dated (apart from the smoking) and holds up beautifully. A family moves into a beautiful estate home for the summer and the wife becomes obsessed with the home and caring for it, as well as for the old woman who lives there. Meanwhile, things get weirder and weirder for her husband, her child and their aunt. 

Did I mention that it is genuinely creepy? Definitely a great follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House.

One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau (2010)

Short but spooky novel about Jackie and Ann, two schoolgirls, each with their own issues. 

Although this is a short book, it packs a LOT of spooky tableaus into its few pages. Kind of bananas, but well-told.